Shamanic Soul Journey

I thought it was high time this forum had something posted in it, so here is an account of a soul journey I undertook over a year ago. Some of you may have already seen this, but I present it for those who are new to the conept, or want to share their own experiences.

Last night I went to bed early, and went travelling 'up' again, just to see if I could replicate the experience. I have often travelled 'down' the Axis Mundi, so I wanted to try exploring the Upperworlds.

I have never been one to follow instructions step-by-step; I like to read the instructions to get the gist of what I'm doing, then freestyle it. This means I get more mixed results than successes, but I also learn more about processes than I would if I blindly stuck to the rules. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

As I laid down last night, I decided to try following a step-by-step process, and was quite pleased with how it all went.

I assumed my usual position, flat on my back with my hands on my chest but not touching each other. I had the blanket up over my hands, and my stone on my brow chakra. Is the stone necessary? I don't know, and suspect it may be a placebo, but it works, so I use it. I started to breathe deeply and consciously until I felt slightly light-headed, then I began counting each breath up to 10, then starting from 1 again. I have fond this to be a quite effective, yet simple way to induce a trance state. Months of playing around with the hypnagogic and hypnopompic states has given me the insight to recognise when a trance state has been entered.

Starting to follow the step-by-step process, I saw myself walking into a cave. When I say 'saw' I mean I focused on every little detail - what I was wearing, the sounds and smells, how the blades of grass looked, the little pebbles on the ground around the cave, the colour and texture of the stone around the entrance etc. This kind of focus on detail helps make the experience more vivid, more real. My cave was knee-deep in water, so I waded into it, fully conscious of the reflected sound the lapping water made, and walked deeper into the darkness. This imagery is considered important, as it symbolises one's transition from the conscious mindstate into the subconscious.

As I walked deeper into the cave, I started to see light up ahead. As I approached it, I saw my cave was actually a tunnel (not unusual for a transition, as mentioned), and opened out into a clearing. The water spilled out of the cave in a small waterfall into a pool at the bottom of a natural stone wall. I stepped into the pool, which was about waist deep, and exited the water via the opposite shore. About 20 metres from the water's edge, a dense forest began, unlike any forest I have ever seen in real life. In the centre of the clearing however, stood a huge, grey-trunked tree that reached far into the sky, further than I could see.

This is what I had been looking for.

This time, instead of sinking into the ground and following the roots into the Underworld, I started to climb the branches, leaping, climbing and swinging my way up the tree, as agile as a monkey. Since it was not a physical climb, I was not sore or tired, not did I struggle. I climbed until I entered the cloud layer, and then I climbed some more. Finally I reached the top, and looked out over a soft, white landscape of cloud.

At this point, I knew I would need some help, so I called out for Osprey, who is my main animal guide. Osprey came immediately, and perched on my forearm, before sidestepping his way to my left shoulder. He told me that I would need to fly in order to reach my next destination, and he would show me how. I was excited about this, as it would be like a flying dream, only lucid, so I leapt from the top of the tree, and let myself soar above the clouds. Osprey flew close by me, making sure I didn't falter or fall, and then he turned toward something only he could see, and I followed.

Eventually we came to a kind of tower jutting up from the clouds, and I landed on the edge of a kind of battlement. There was a doorway leading further into the tower, and it was my exact shape, but about 2 inches bigger in each direction to allow me to walk through it. As I entered the me-shaped doorway, Osprey indicated that he would have to wait outside. The entrance actually led into a tunnel, and the extra 2 inches on each side of and above me allowed me to stride almost normally down it's length. The tunnel was about 20 metres long, and I emerged into a round stone room that contained a large, round stone platform.

On the platform was a metre tall, dark green crystal formation that was flat on top and seemed to rise and fall in and out of the platform in time with my breath. Emnnating from the base of the crystal were clouds of steam, as if it were rising out of some boiling liquid. As I approached the cyrstal, it sank fully out of sight, then emerged again bearing an amphora or urn of some type, smooth and bone coloured in appearance, with dark red painted around the lip, and a wavy, light blue pattern painted around the neck. Although I had never seen such a thing before, I knew this is what I had come for, so I took it. Knowing full well that I would need to leave something behind as a gift, tribute, or thank you, I created a small spinning globe of the world, held by a heart-shaped frame, and placed it on top of the crystal. I then turned and left. Who knows? Maybe the next person to visit will take away my gift, and leave another of their own.

I met Osprey out on the battlement, and flew with him back to the tree, whereupon I descended through the clouds, and made my way back through the pool and tunnel, and allowed myself to regain consciousness. I lay awake for a short while, listening to the sounds of the night, and Christine's deep, sleeping breaths, and then fell asleep myself.

What lessons I learned from this journey, and what the jug/amphora/urn is for, will become apparent in time I imagine. For now, I have placed my find with the book I found in the Underworld, and will examine them both in more detail at another time. For now I am just pleased that I have shown myself I am able to travel 'up' or 'down' at will, and this has bolstered my confidence and desire to do so more often in the future.

I encourage anyone reading this to try it out themselves, and to ask for any clarification that is needed to help the process. It's an amazing experience, and one I cannot recommend highly enough.

I actually have all sorts of questions and comments about this, but I'd like to ask only one thing for now. When you say the osprey is your main spirit guide, what is it you mean exactly? Is the osprey also your totem, the animistic expression of the instinctual nature of your soul? Or is your soul-totem another archetype, not Osprey?